Hasta La Gadget!

Most other places will simply refer to this as the M2TV, but we’re not that lazy. For you, readers, we’ll dig out our bag of magical key combinations and do it the proper way: MediaGate’s MG-M²TV. Beyond the needlessly elevated name what we have here is a reasonably comprehensive media player with a title far more interesting than its look. That boring black box houses a lot of functionality, including compatibility with oodles of video formats like AVI, WMV9, MKV, Xvid, H.264 — and even RealVideo for some reason (yes, RealNetworks is still around). Music and image formats are equally comprehensive, there’s even subtitle support, and it can all be sent to your HDTV at 1080p over HDMI or Component (check out the outputs after the break). It’ll take media from a USB HDDs, memory cards, and there are plans for a WiFi module in the not too distant future. MSRP is $119, but we’re finding it for around $100, meaning WD’s HD Media Player has a little competition on its hands.

[Via Newswire Today]

Continue reading MediaGate’s MG-M²TV, world’s first superscripted HD media player, is now available

Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

MediaGate’s MG-M²TV, world’s first superscripted HD media player, is now available originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 24 Jul 2009 09:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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One of our ultimate dream gadgets has long been a dead-simple wireless HDMI dongle for our laptops — something that would let us just throw a window (say, Hulu) up on our HDTV without a lot of fuss, cables, or configuration. So obviously we were pretty excited to try out the $199 Atlona Technologies HD-AiR, which marries Wireless USB with DisplayLink and promises to send 720p video directly from your laptop to a base station with VGA and HDMI outputs up to 30 feet away — until we received the box and noted the small print saying that it doesn’t support audio. Hopes: dashed.

On top of that, we’re not sure if it’s DisplayLink, Wireless USB, or some combination of the two, but the video link seemed pretty bandwidth-starved — full-screen video was close to unwatchable, PowerPoint transitions were kinda jerky, and even just moving windows around was pretty choppy. For such a promising — and much-needed — device, the HD-AiR just doesn’t get it done. Atlona says the next version will have audio support and 1080p video support using the next generation of DisplayLink chips and drivers, but we’d hope the company’s engineers spend a little more time in the lab polishing up their 720p framerates before they push this thing any farther. Video after the break.

Continue reading Atlona HD-AiR wireless HDMI system hands-on and impressions

Filed under: Home Entertainment, Wireless

Atlona HD-AiR wireless HDMI system hands-on and impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 17 Jul 2009 18:03:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Packard Bell recently overhauled its logo in an effort to keep up with the times, but are its offerings up to the same task? The new imedia lineup immediately recalls the recently announced M-series desktops from Acer, and that’s no accident. The innards are remarkably similar too, with the top models sporting Core 2 Quad or AMD Phenom II X4 processors, a 1.5GB GeForce GT230, HDMI out, Blu-Ray combo drive and a maximum of 8GB DDR3 memory and 1TB of storage. While none of the specs are on the blistering edge of innovation, there’s plenty of power there and keen pricing could make them an attractive proposition. The entry-level Celeron-based units start at £299 ($490) in the UK.

Filed under: Desktops

Packard Bell imedia lineup gets an Acer-inspired refresh originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 03 Jul 2009 04:47:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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It’s official, Olympus’ first MIcro Four Thirds camera is up and dancing upon the global stage. Dubbed, E-P1 “digital Pen” (reflecting the camera’s Olympus Pen-series heritage) this MFT shooter aligns with the looks and specs that came our way yesterday in leaked format. In other words, we’re looking at an image stabilized (sensor-shift) 12.3 megapixel Live MOS sensor with TruePic V image processing, ISO 100-6400 sensitivity, a 3-inch LCD, 20 shooting modes (5 exposure, i-Auto, and 14 automatic scenes), an SDHC slot, and HDMI TV-out for playback of 720p (1280×720 pixel) recorded video at 30fps. The 14-42 lens kit retracts into the barrel when not in use and Olympus’ Supersonic Wave Filter helps keep dust under control when swapping-out the lens for Micro Four Thirds, Four Thirds, or OM lenses. A few advanced previews of the E-P1 are already available — peep those in the read links below if you can’t wait for the July launch or the full-blown reviews due in a few weeks.

Update: Priced at $749 (body only), $799 (with 14-42mm lens), and $899 (with 17mm pancake lens and viewfinder). Honestly, those prices are better than we had hoped for especially in a camera measuring just 121 x 70 x 36-mm (4.7 x 2.7 x 1.4-inches) playing host to a DSLR-sized sensor.

Read — LetsGoDigital
Read — DPReview
Read — Photography Blog
Read — Official E-P1 product page

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Olympus E-P1 ‘digital Pen’ gets official, so does our lust originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 16 Jun 2009 01:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Monster kicked off the Consumer Electronics Association’s New York showcase with the introduction of several new products, including a super-thin cable for HDMI, high-speed cables for HDMI, a tabletop universal remote, and new speed tiers for its PowerNet networking solution.

The SuperThin cables are the first products to come out of Monster’s collaboration with chipmaker RedMere. Monster utilized RedMere’s MagniEye technology, which requires no external power supply and sends HD signals directly to the cable.

As a result, the cables do not need heavy-gauge copper and are about 65 percent slimmer than normal HDMI cables, measuring 3.5 mm in diameter, Monster said.

They are available in 4-, 8-, and 16-foot versions via the company’s DigitalLife line of products for $89.95, $99.95, and $119.95, respectively. An 8-foot SuperThin cable for camcorders will cost $99.95.

Monster will also offer the SuperThin cables as part of its Core line in 1-meter, 2m, 4m, and 5m lengths, ranging in price from $79.95 to $119.95.

Monster has also teamed with THX to produce faster THX certified cables for HDMI.